Quixotic Quackery or Energising Elixir?

The intuitive art of healing started to dwindle into
oblivion with the coming of the Industrial Revolution.

In the Berkeley era,
the poor may have borne the brunt of social upheaval, but its effects
rippled through society in a tidal wave. Empire outreach, war,
politics, and the gambling houses affected the fortunes of many
higher up the social ladder. There was no welfare state. The shadow
of debt and destitution stalked lord and labourer alike, if not quite
in the same proportion, and then, as now, it was prudent to acquire
other strings to the bow.

One who explored some
unlikely byways was Caleb Carrington, erstwhile chaplain to Frederick
Augustus, 5th Earl of Berkeley. This was not the corrupt vicar who
performed an illegal marriage between the Earl and Mary Cole, but the
one who filled Hupsman's shoes when that gentleman did some fancy
footwork and absconded to pastures new.

Carrington fielded the
fallout. After Hupsman's death, he was presented to the benefice of
Berkeley and given the task of finding the 'lost' registry. The
original had existed in order to dupe the bride, but Hupsman had
destroyed it at Lord Berkeley's request. When it became expedient to
prove that it existed, Carrington conducted the search in the
presence of lawyers. He had figured prominently in 1799 Pedigree
Inquiry into William Fitzhardinge Berkeley's legitimacy as heir to
his father's honours. The case had collapsed, leaving the question
hanging of who would inherit at Lord Berkeley's demise. There would
have to be another hearing. Carrington knew that he was embroiled in
a dangerous game and that, one way or another, he might lose his post
or be defrocked. He, too, might need to do a 'moonlight flit'. He was
not good with money, had a wife and offspring to support, and must
have been sorely troubled by scruples in a conflict between the
courts of God and mammon.

This seems to have led
him to think in temporal terms of the Flock and the Vine.

Britain was locked in
combat with Napoleon and there seemed to be no letup on the horizon
which involved prolonged trade blockades. French wine was not as
free-flowing as consumers would have liked. An increase in home-grown
produce was essential and might have contributed in some measure to
the enclosing of lands by a ruthless aristocracy. Putting mutton and
wine on England's tables was a patriotic enterprise and provided a
suitable excuse for Carrington to be relieved of his tutelage of the
Berkeley boys who were growing up fast and were making pointed
enquiries about their parents' affairs.

As in the case of Mr George
Austen, Jane's father, it was usual for country parsons to farm their
acres. (Jane's family was connected with the Berkeleys and with Hupsman.)

Not a great deal is
known of Carrington after Lord Berkeley's death in 1810, although he
was called to recapitulate and enlarge upon former evidence in the
1811 Peerage trial. He continued as Vicar of the Berkeley Parish
until his death in May, 1839, in the Debtors' Gaol at Gloucester, and regularly appeared as a plaintiff in
local squabbles in the Court of Chancery. His flirtation with the
land could not have met with any notable success since we find him a
few years later hawking his Carrington's Life Pills around the
district and way beyond.

COLDS, RHEUMATISM,
GOUT & INDIGESTIONLIFE PILLS, entirely
vegetable, discovered bythe Rev. C.
CARRINGTON, Vicar of Berkeley, oneof his Majesty’s
Deputy Lieutenants, &c. for the County ofGloucester - To
alleviate the tortures of Spasm, Gout, Rheu-matism, Cholic, and
Nervous Afflictions, with superb successby giving fresh life
and energy to the efforts of nature, isnot the only merit
of CARRINGTON’S LIFE PILLS. Onthe same principle
they are adapted to Female Complaints,rouse the dormant
constitution, and with gentle exercise inthe open air soon
spread the bloom of health on the palestcheek. They
strengthen the digestive organs and expelwind, they cherish
and prolong life in the debilitated, andthey prevent the
attack of many fatal acute diseases, if re-sorted to on the
first sensation of chill, pain or lassitude. Alarge portion of the
human race is hurried to an untimelygrave by
Inflammations, Consumptions, &c. the effect ofneglected Colds; but
a recent cold is certainly cured bythese Pills,
invigorating the torpid arteries of the skin, andthereby restoring
the perspiration.

It is recorded in The
Monthly Gazette of Health, Vol VIII, 1823 that a complainant from
Brighton to the Bishop of Gloucester wrote: When the Rev Mr
Carrington states that his pills can 'create a soul under the ribs of
death', he employs the language...of a needy charlatan. ...What
disgust and indignation must your lordship experience when you are
told that this ecclesiastical nostrum-monger enlists into his service
the terrors of religious guilt and denounces as a suicide every
individual who has been cut off by sudden death without attempting to
avert the fatal blow by a box of the Life Pills!!!'

The Bishop responded
coolly that Carrington had done nothing to warrant a trial in a
Consistory Court and that his advertisers were to blame.

The fact is, despite
the threatening and minatory tone of these claims and his florid
prose, Carrington's assertions do bear investigation. There is
actually nothing here that is untrue as regards the properties of capsicum. Cayenne (Capsicum Annuum) contains a substance
called capsaicin which is a strong digestive. Whereas spicy foods may
cause heartburn and cooked cayenne pepper can, to the sensitive, be
inflammatory, powder from the dried herb is a healing agent that
actually reverses caustic effects. It has antiseptic properties and
is rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene. Since it helps to lower blood
pressure by regulating circulation, it strengthens the arteries and
reduces headaches caused by constriction. It has long been known to
ward off the common cold, if taken early enough, and can alleviate
the worst misery once symptoms have set in.

By modern standards,
the method of preparation would almost certainly have been found
wanting. But a friend with a long career in the pharmaceutical
industry tells me that, even now, generic drugs (where more than one
company may have been granted a licence) can differ significantly
with different methods of preparation. The constituents may be
exactly the same, in the same proportion, but the effect can vary
according to the process of manufacture.

We are committed to the
convolutions of science and awed by what it has opened up for us –
in some cases a dramatic increase in life expectancy and in the
quality of life – but I suspect that better hygiene, social
conditions and a lifestyle that is more in tune with our natural
rhythms contribute in far greater proportion to the sum of human
wellbeing than is ever contrived by drugs companies.